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(No Model.)

T. D. BELKNAPp I I STENCIL CARD. N0. 573,850.

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FRANK D. BELKNAP, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.-

STENCIL-CARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 573,850, dated December 29, 1896. Application filed February 28, 1896. Serial No. 581,106. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK D. BELKNAP, a citizen of the United States, residing at- New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stencil-Cards and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to stencil-cards for use in addressing-machines; and it consists of an improved form of such card, together with an improved method of connecting a series of cards together for use in the addressing-niachine.

The general nature of my invention and its preferred form are both disclosed in accompanying sheet of drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a view of a series of stencil-cards connect-ed together according to my invention. Fig. 2 is an improved form of connecting said cards together, in which they are spaced differently from the manner disclosed in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a detailed plan view of the improved form of stencil-card. Fig. 4 is a cross-section on line 4 4, Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is an end view showing the cards of Fig. 1 folded up, and Fig. 6 is an end view showing the cards of Fig. 2 similarly folded.

Throughout the drawings like referencefigures refer to like parts.

1 1 1 1 1, &c., constitute a series of stencil-cards which are connected together in any manner permitting them to be folded one upon the other, but preferably by pasting strips 2 2 along the ends of the cards. Sufficient space is left between the adjacent edges 3 30f the cards to permit of their being folded up, as shown in Fig. 5.

Fig. 2 shows a series of cards with every other card, as 1 1, removed and leaving the remaining cards 1 l 1 spaced at a distance approximately equal to the width of the cards. This permits the cutting out or insertion of any card or number of cards without changing the manner of folding of the rest of the string, as would be necessary in the arrangement shown in Fig. 1.

4, Fig. 3, indicates the stencihsheet on 6 at all and does not adhere to the frame 5 except at the points 7 7, the paste at the ends being all outside of the dotted lines 8 S.

The operation of my invention is as follows: The string of cards is fed through the addressing-machine by any simple feed apparatus which may catch the edges 3 of the cards, and when not in use the cards maybe folded up, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The arrangement shown in Figs. 1 and 5 has the advantage that the clean surfaces of the cards are always together and the inked faces together. The arrangement shown in Fig. 2 has not-this point of advantage, but it has the additional one that any number of cards can be removed or inserted without bothering to rearrange the remaining portions of the folded string, as would be the case if one of the cards were removed from the pile shown in Fig. 5.

The form of card illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4is particularly advantageous for this method of attachment, because its greatest strength is along the ends to which the strips 2 are pasted, and it is in this direction that the strain of the feeding action comes. The card is equally adapted for use in separate form wherever the feeding mechanism operates in the line of the strips 6 6, and is applied to the card at or near the extreme ends.

The advantages of the invention are, first, the improved form of card, which gives strength with lightness and is devoid of any tendency to curl second, the attachment of cards one to another, so that they may be folded together, by reason of the fact that the connection between any two cards is capable of fie'xure through three hundred and sixty degrees, which permits all of the good features of the card system to be realized without the possibility of loss of single cards and simplifies the necessary feed mechanism of the addressing-machine to a very great degree.

I find that in certain cases when the stencil-sheets 4 are sufficiently thick and stiff the additional reinforcing-strips 6 may be dispensed with and the stencil-sheet held to the reinforcing-frame 5 by some adhesive material at the intermediate points 7 7, as before.

IIaVing therefore described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to protect by Letters Patent, is

1. The improved stencil-card which consists of the combination of the stencil-sheet and rectangular reinforcing-frame which is attached to one side of said sheet by pasting to the two longer sides thereof at intermediate points,and the detached reinforcing-strips which are pasted to the ends of the reinforcing-frame and overlap the stencil-sheets along its ends but do not adhere thereto, substantially as described.

FRANK D. BELKNAP. \Vitnesses:

A. PARKER SMITH, PETER R. GATENS. 

